The Bookstore Wedding (The Once Upon a Time Bookshop Stories) by Alice Hoffman - Audiobook

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Alice Hoffman

The Bookstore Wedding (The Once Upon a Time Bookshop Stories)Audiobook

Name: The Bookstore Wedding (The Once Upon a Time Bookshop Stories)
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.2 (5693 reviews)
Author: Alice Hoffman

Alice Hoffman

(Author)

4.2

5,693 ratings

In this star-crossed short story from New York Times bestselling author Alice Hoffman, timing is everything as two sisters learn to let love follow its own path.

Isabel, the long-lost Gibson sister, is finally back home on Brinkley’s Island, Maine. With Sophie and Violet, her sister and her niece, she’s got the family bookstore—and with Johnny Lenox, she’s got something even more special.

But even as life settles, not everything is falling into place. Isabel and Johnny have set the date three times, baked three wedding cakes, invited the whole island to three parties, only to have each attempt at matrimony fall apart at the last minute. Disasters seem to be conspiring against their happy ending, and Isabel is starting to wonder if their love is meant to be.

When family history comes back to haunt the Gibson sisters, Isabel knows that if she wants to make it down the aisle with Johnny, first she and Sophie will have to face the pain of their past and their present, and decide what it means for their future.

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Print length

39 pages

Language

English

Publisher

Amazon Original Stories

Publication date

July 31, 2024

Popular Highlights in this book

People made mistakes, and sometimes they weren’t aware of how bad their choices were until they lived through them and came out on the other side.
Highlighted by 173 Kindle readers
Their mother had told them that cake was always helpful: you can have it for breakfast or lunch, you can have it while you’re celebrating or when your heart is about to break, and you can always share it with someone you love.
Highlighted by 146 Kindle readers
That I did always love, I bring thee proof: That till I loved I did not love enough.
Highlighted by 91 Kindle readers

Product details

ASIN :

B0CV4FFR71

File size :

4569 KB

Text-to-speech :

Enabled

Screen reader :

Supported

Enhanced typesetting :

Enabled

X-Ray :

Enabled

Word wise :

Enabled

Editorial Reviews

I first visited the Once Upon a Time Bookshop in Alice Hoffman’s bestselling short story “The Bookstore Sisters,” and I never wanted to leave. It feels like a personal gift to be granted more time with the Gibson family.

In this richly layered short story, Isabel Gibson and Johnny Lenox are planning their wedding at long last, after years of separation and misunderstanding. But faced with natural disasters and family crises, they’ve canceled three times already. As an out-of-season hurricane sends their reception tent soaring away over the marsh, Isabel wonders if she isn’t destined for happiness after all.

In looking for a sign from the universe, Isabel risks overlooking her own power to change her fate. Sometimes, if the stars don’t align, you have to find a different way to see them—and that’s where love, in all its varied forms, comes in. Isabel’s sister, Sophie, and Sophie’s daughter, Violet, have just as much a role to play as Johnny in making the course of true love run a little smoother.

As for Isabel and Johnny, read on to find out if the fourth time’s the charm. And you’ll soon be able to visit the bookstore again—the next story is already on its way.

—Kjersti Egerdahl, Editor

Sample

Love makes you do unexpected things. It’s never what you think it will be. It can break your heart or it can save you when you least expect it to, which was certainly true for Isabel Gibson. She had vowed never to come home again, but just like people said, she’d finally come back from New York after twelve years in exile. Now she was here to stay, and it was clear to everyone, love was the reason.

When the Gibson sisters were girls, they’d promised their father they’d take over his beloved Once upon a Time Bookshop, vowing that nothing would ever change. Fiction would always be on tables up front, nonfiction would be near the window, and children’s books would line the shelves of the fairy-tale room. But everything changed when the girls’ mother died, and after that the shelves were always dusty and the books were a hodgepodge and Isabel decided the last thing she wanted was to spend her life in a bookstore. Isabel was only ten in that terrible year, but that was when she stopped believing in fairy tales. Her father came home from the hospital every day during that last sorrowful month of their mother’s life and he’d locked himself away to weep. That was when Isabel decided that love was dangerous. It made you weak and left you at the mercy of fate. That was when she stopped going out to the marshes with her best friend, Johnny Lenox. She already knew she would fall in love with him, and she’d decided to stop it before it had begun. She was never going to lock herself away and cry. She was never going to lose what mattered most, not if nothing mattered at all.

Even then, Isabel dreamed of escaping to New York. She wanted a city where no one was fazed if they spied someone crying on a street corner, a place where no one knew your name. She wanted to be free, without connections that would tie her down and only hurt her in the end. After her mother’s death, she would sit in the marsh with paper and ink and create cloudy images of avenues and buildings she’d never seen. At seventeen, she made a list of everything on the island she had loved most of all: her mother; her father; the bookstore; her sister, Sophie; and Johnny Lenox, to whom she no longer spoke, even though he did his best to follow her around, sometimes appearing in their garden early in the morning, so that she had to close her curtains so she wouldn’t see him out there waiting for her. Isabel took the list she’d made and set it on fire, watching it burn in the kitchen sink. By the time she ran the water, there was nothing left but black ash.

As soon as she graduated, she packed her bags. She ignored Johnny, who had trailed her down to the docks. Don’t follow me anymore, Isabel told him. Don’t you get it? There’s nothing between us. She didn’t hear what he shouted back to her as the boat left the island. The wind was too high, and, anyway, at that point Isabel had already turned away.

Alice Hoffman

Alice Hoffman is the author of thirty works of fiction, including Practical Magic, The Dovekeepers, Magic Lessons, and, most recently, The Book of Magic. She lives in Boston. Her new novel, The Invisible Hour, is forthcoming in August 2023. Visit her website: www.alicehoffman.com

Reviews

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

5,693 global ratings

Lifesart

She Always Does

Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2024

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Sometimes it seems I've been reading Alice Hoffman since I was born. Every sentence, every paragraph, shines like a rain shower in the sun. Her writing, seemingly spare, is full of light and life. She is always able to affect me, whether the feeling abides in my own life or in the empathy I feel for her characters.

This story is brief but contains experience beyond the words on the page. As I've grown up, a lengthy process of 74 years, I've learned enough and forgotten enough, that Hoffman's books resonate with increasing depth. But though I bring a bit to my reading, she provides the magic that keeps her stories in my heart.

Diana S. Long

Engrossing short story

Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2024

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Although a short story, it was an excellent read by an amazing writer. I enjoyed her work before in her novel Practical Magic and she brought the same delightful storytelling in a smaller package. The story takes place on an Island where two sisters grew up with very different ideas of what they want ...but how very different are they in their thoughts and their desires really. It also is a story that includes a bookstore, books and treats....these are a few of my favorite things...Okay so the Sound of Music has nothing to do with this work...but their definitely is some romance or love in the air. I recommend to those that just want a nice engrossing story.

Glynn Young

Not a romance, but a love story - love of family, others, and community

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2024

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When she’s old enough to leave, Isabel Gibson flees from her family on Brinkley Island. She was 10 when her mother died, and she was so overwhelmed by her father’s and sister’s grief, not to mention her own, she determined to leave and block herself from love. She eventually married, but it ended in divorce.

She not only left her family behind; she also left her best friend, Johnny Lenox, the boy she loved and who loved her since they were children. Her mother’s bookstore, which her father tried to operate but couldn’t get through his grief, has been run by Isabel’s sister Sophie.

Isabel and Johnny reconnect; they never really disconnected. And they decide to marry, but something always seems to be getting in the way.

“The Bookstore Wedding” by Alice Hoffman is a short story (related to the author’s Bookstore series) that isn’t as much about romance as it is about love – love for family, love for others, and love for community. It’s a simple story, told well, that ends in an unexpected but satisfying way.

Hoffman is the bestselling author of more than 30 novels, three books of short stories, and eight books for children and young adults. Her work has received a number of significant recognitions, including movie versions, Oprah Book Club selections, and Publishers Weekly honors. Her novel about Anne Frank, “When We Flew Away,” will be published in September. A native of New York City, she lives in Boston.

Eun

Sweet story

Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2024

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Sweet story about love, patience and forgiveness. Alice Hoffman delivers a story about a young girl who decides to leave her island home for New York City. After her mother‘s death, Isabel does not want to fall in love as those you love leave. Her childhood friend Johnny waivers and his love for her and waits for her return. After her father‘s death, Isabel and her sister Sophie inherit the bookstore. Once she returns to the island, Isabel and Frank decide to marry. But after three disastrous attempts, they still not tied the nut. Will the fourth time be a charm?

It’s difficult to leave a review for a short story without divulging most of the plot so I’m gonna leave it at that. Ellis Hoffman is a good writer. Her style is engaging and keeps the reader savoring her words. This is a good book. I really enjoyed.it’s short and sweet.

Susan

Simply Exquisite

Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2024

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A wonderful follow up to The Bookstore Sisters. Alice Hoffman is a gifted author and I adore these short Once Upon a Time Bookshop stories. The story continues with life on Brinkley’s Island. The two sisters, Sophie and Isabel, have settled into their lives together after previously being apart for many years. This new chapter, focuses on love and the unexpected curveballs that life throws in the mix when least expected. Even though the story is short, it is full of emotion and has such a richness to it, I didn’t want it to end. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

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